First Things

Red Ball thinks back to all the time and sweat used to restore this Olin 16 HP horizontal gasoline engine housed in his Wellsville, New York, shop.

Olin Family Historian, 5855 Lisle Road, Owego, New York
13827

My first real interest in the Olin family history began in 1984
when my mother gave me all the material that my deceased father had
somehow gathered by 'hit and miss' from family members. She
also included a letter of inquiry that had been forwarded to her. I
knew absolutely nothing about the ins and outs of genealogy or the
conventional rules of etiquette involved, but I had a large
notebook full of information in my hands, and from it I prepared an
answer to the query of what I proudly thought was right. A scathing
letter came back, letting me know in certain terms that I did not
know what I was writing about.

I had always figured myself as a knowledgeable person, having
recently retired from middle management in a large corporation. Now
I was experiencing a humility based on ignorance of the simple
kind, my own family history. I accepted the challenge because I did
not want to experience this feeling of inadequacy again. I began
corresponding with the older members of the Olin family and found
that my branch, the Joseph (2) Olin, had never been documented as
had his two brothers. Mine appeared to be a lost branch since
1710.

Now I had a goal for my extra time in my retirement years, to
research, collect, compile and possibly author a book of my long
lost branch. But in doing so I found that I had to collect all Olin
information and sift through it for what I needed.

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Red Ball thinks back to all the time and sweat used to restore this Olin 16 HP horizontal gasoline engine housed in his Wellsville, New York, shop.

Typical oil pumping site in the Pennsylvania oil fields, capable of supplying power to 24 to 36 wells within a quarter mile.

Don Olin checks his tie-downs one last time before hitting the road with his Olin 6 HP vertical gasoline engine.

The Olin auto tractor attachment installed on a Ford car. This illustration appeared in GEM March-April 1967.

Three generations of Olins: Don, his son Mike and granddaughter Cori, and the author's son-in-law, Fred Underwood, Jr., finally shut down their engine after hours of demonstration at the Olin reunion in Owego, New York.

35 HP Olin engine restored by Nathan Lillibridge and now at Midwest Old Threshers Museum in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

About this time, 1986, I accepted the appointment of Historian
for Tioga County, New York, which provided me with the opportunity
to learn the use of research facilities and to generate other
family genealogies or history as I prefer to call it. The historian
position also gave me a legitimate excuse to visit 'old
timers' around the country and develop short stories relating
to their family's history or activities for the local
papers.

While visiting the annual Steam and Gas Engine Show in Maine,
New York, Jack Green, small gasoline engine buff, told me about the
Olin gasoline engines and wondered if I was related to the
originator. I had no idea if I was related or not. He suggested
that I take in the Steam and Gas Show in Canandaigua, New York,
where he thought someone would know of the Olin engine.

My brother Don had just acquired a small rubber-tired steam
driven tractor and was easily talked into accompanying me to
Canandaigua. Sure enough, I found a fellow who showed me pictures
of the Olin vertical and horizontal engines in a book by C. H.
Wendel. Another fellow provided me with the address of a small shop
and museum for gasoline engines in Wellsville, New York, where Olin
engines were displayed.

My wife Emilia and I made the trip . to Wellsville, where
'Red' Ball showed us his Olin horizontal, about 16 HP,
restored gasoline engine that was in operating condition and
another Olin vertical, about 6 HP, that he was just beginning to
restore.

By now, my brother and I were beginning to feel the internal
pressure that leads to being 'hooked' with a new project.
Don was thinking that someone in the Olin family should own one of
these engines just for the preservation within the family for
future generations. This historian decided that it was necessary to
research the background development of the Olin engines and
relationship of the originator and manufacture.

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In 1990, again under advisement, Don and I made a trip to
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to visit Kinzers' Rough and
Tumble Engineers Historical Association Museum. It is a super show
place specializing in steam and gasoline driven machines, model and
narrow gauge railroads, farm equipment, and automobiles, all
basically pre-1920 and most in good to operating condition.
Competition and demonstrations make it one of the more interesting
museums in the country.

My interest grew as we walked into a building full of small and
midsize gasoline engines. I had the feeling that the Olin engine
was in here. We walked up and down a couple of the aisles. I
stopped in front of an engine that was running and being fine-tuned
by a young fellow, watched over by an old timer. I said to them
that this engine looked like an Olin engine and he agreed that it
was. Almost unbelievably we had walked right to it!

The old fellow's name was A. D. Mast. He described his Olin
engine as a 20 HP horizontal hit and miss, single stroke, with a
nameplate identifying it as an Olin engine manufactured at Buffalo,
New York. After telling Mast that we were Olins (I doubt if that
made any impression on him), and that we were interested in the
history of the Olin engine, he gave us a copy of the latest Gas
Engine Magazine and took us out to another building and introduced
us to Nathan Lillibridge of Voluntown, Connecticut.

Lillibridge has an extra large size engine in operation at
Kinzers and his own shop and museum up in Vermont where he also has
both vertical and horizontal Olin engines. His best one is a 35 HP
horizontal hit and miss single stroke Olin engine manufactured at
Titusville, Pennsylvania.

He found it in a creek near Titusville, the site of the first
oil wells in United States. It was used to power an octagon pumping
setup. He showed us some photos while he described what this setup
was like. They showed the three attached buildings as a complex:
The largest held the big gasoline engine and the living quarters
for the operator and his family, the middle one covered the long
power transmission belt and walkway to the third building, which
was the octagon power distribution center.

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South Penn Oil Company had several of these complexes in
northwest Pennsylvania during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Oil
was pumped from a drilled well into large wooden storage tanks. The
collection of oil was transported by either tank wagons, small
tanks on rafts during high water, or by pipeline, all to the large
river barges or rail tanks until underground pipelines were
installed. At times the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers would be one long
flotilla of oil barges flowing southward.

Back at the oil well, the living quarters were fairly good, if
you liked sharing it with a monstrous, noisy and smelly engine. The
rooms were papered and had hardwood floors with several colorful
throw rugs. A hall down the center separated the kitchen and
bedrooms from the living room, which contained the 35 HP gasoline
engine mounted on a concrete base. The exhaust stack ran straight
up through the roof. The power transmission belt went from the
engine through a small trap door, through the covered walkway to
the power distribution unit in the eight-sided building with a
pointed roof. A large flat cam was constantly rotating, pushing
iron rods back and forth through small windows in seven sides of
the building. These rods continued as far as a quarter of a mile
suspended on tripods or trees to wells, as many as 36 to a complex,
where they were so connected to sucker rods that pumped the oil up
out of the wells. If a well failed to produce or something broke
down, it was a simple matter of disconnecting that rod from the cam
action, leaving the rest to operate.

Lillibridge sold his 35 HP Olin engine to Barry E. Tuller,
representing the Midwest Old Threshers Museum in Mount Pleasant,
Iowa. Tuller's correspondence with me said, 'This 35 HP
Olin engine is a good running engine and usually is an easy
starting engine. The valve mechanism is a unique design. The engine
uses hit 'n miss governing. We have rigged a timer to provide
electric ignition via a plug, as it is difficult to get consistent
ignition with hot tube outside in the wind. When the engine is
inside on its permanent base we will likely return to hot tube
ignition, as this adds to the 'show'.'

The feeling of reality finally overtook my brother and me. Just
the awareness of seeing and knowing that such machinery exists
becomes much more impressive when it has your family name on it. We
were ready to make our moves. I started a serious search by
correspondence on the history of the Olin gasoline engine,
primarily in ads in the GEM and western New York and Pennsylvania
historical societies. Don had heard that Red Ball might be
interested in selling one of his Olin engines so he dickered well
over a year until finally I helped him load the smaller 6 HP engine
onto his ? ton pickup. It rested in his barn while he scrounged up
a few parts to finish the restoration and while he summoned his
courage to start it up. His intention of making it operable and
keeping it in the family for future Olin generations is to be
commended.

Meanwhile, I have made some progress on the history. Fred C.
Olin was born October 17, 1860 in Wyoming County, New York, the
only child of Thomas and Emeline (Compton) Olin. His mother died
just before his sixth birthday. Fred's father was the oldest
son of Paris (5) Olin, whose line goes back through Ezra (4), John
(3), John (2), John (1) Olin, the original Olin to arrive in
America, ca. 1678.

George S. Nye, author of the book Biographical Sketches and
Records of the Ezra Olin Family, had this to say about Fred C. Olin
in 1892: 'Not being possessed of a strong constitution he was
unable when young to perform hard labor, consequently, spent the
greater part of his time in school. He attended Cornell University
one year, his health failing, was obliged to cease attendance. He
is possessed of an inventive mind, and in order to follow his
natural inclination, he settled in Buffalo, where he was engaged
for some time in a machine shop. He afterward located in Dunkirk,
New York, where he presently resides, and is superintendent of the
Martin Anti-Fire Car Heater Works. He married Alice B. Bartholomew,
September 22, 1891, daughter of Abram Bartholomew, a prominent
Buffalo attorney.'

It appears that Olin's inventive mind produced early results
during his high school years at Perry Academy in the late 1870s.
Although he never received recognition and failed to follow
through, he exhibited a crude talking machine just before Thomas A.
Edison perfected his.

While Olin worked his way up to become the superintendent of the
Martin Anti-Fire Car Heater Works, he became obsessed with the new
internal combustion engine fueled by gasoline that was to replace
steam powered engines. Prior to the development of the internal
combustion engine, gasoline was an annoying by-product of the
petroleum industry.

Olin began drawing plans for his own engines, submitting dozens
of patents a year. He was determined to manufacture his own engines
despite the competition. He convinced his father-in-law to help
finance his project and named himself as the President and
Treasurer of the Olin Gas Engine Manufacturing Company of Buffalo,
New York. Olin established a licensing agreement with J. W. Ruger
Manufacturing Company of Buffalo and Titusville Iron Company of
Titusville, Pennsylvania, allowing them to build the different Olin
vertical and horizontal gasoline engines. Later, the Titusville
Iron Company boasted that the Olin gas engine was the first
successful gas engine placed on the market for use in the oil
fields, maintaining a reputation for economy, reliability and
durability.

Between the years 1892 and 1928, the Olin Gas Engine
Manufacturing Company, 10-16 Lock Street, Buffalo, employed a
minimum of twenty people, utilizing 15,000 square feet. By 1911,
Titusville Iron Company was turning out scores of Olin engines
monthly while J. W. Ruger Manufacturing Company began phasing out
of the heavy engine production. The Olin Gas Engine Manufacturing
Company decided to diversify its operation by soliciting general
high class machine work and perforating of metals.

Meanwhile, Fred C. Olin's inventive capabilities assumed
another direction. Henry Ford's market share of automobiles was
booming by sales of his Model 'T.' Thousands of small time
farmers could not justify the cost of the automobile just for
pleasure purposes. About 1910, Olin created a special conversion
kit that could convert any car, particularly the Model 'T,'
into a tractor capable of pulling a plow, harrow, etc. Known as the
'Olin Auto Tractor Attachment,' it consisted of two
standard size iron wheels for the front and two large 54 inch iron
cleared rims or wheels for the rear. Speed was reduced roughly by
10 to 1 with drawbar pull of 800 pounds. (This brings back memories
of the doodle-bug that became popular during World War Two.)

Patent No. 1,366,413 was granted to Olin in 1921 for a unique
tractor design that resembled a competitor's tractor called
'Bates Steel Mule.'

Fred C. Olin died July 17, 1934, at age 73. His dream company
was dissolved and the manufacturing site sold just before his
death. He may have had other noteworthy inventions or products to
his credit.

Now, back to my brother, Donald E. Olin of Harpursville, New
York, and his 6 HP Olin gasoline engine that was made in Buffalo.
Don had finally found the necessary parts and paraphernalia
necessary for a start up. So, on a sunny Sunday afternoon Don and
his son Mike, my son-in-law Fred Underwood Jr., and I rolled the
engine to a level spot outside the barn where we combined our
limited knowledge of a 'one lunger engine' to insure a safe
and correct start up. The reservoir was filled with water,
crankcase filled with oil, governor assembly and shaft oiled,
ignition system hooked up from battery, to magneto, to spark plug
(spark was good), and finally attaching the propane gas tank that
fed through the pressure gauge, through the regulator to the
carburetor.

We were ready to fire it up! Fred was our youngest and
strongest; consequently, he was elected to turn the flywheel, which
proved to require more than a couple of turns. At first we were
only able to get one or two pops before realizing that the governor
ball assembly was not freely sliding on the shaft. After sanding
the paint from the shaft, freeing the governor and tightening the
return springs, the engine still refused to start. Fred tapped the
carburetor with a wrench, apparently breaking the diaphragm loose,
allowing for gas flow because the engine suddenly came to life.
With minor adjustments to the timing and gas flow, Fred was able to
get that everlasting slow idle of a 'pop' dying out to the
next 'pop.' A beautiful sound to our ears from our own
family invention!

Our local annual Olin reunion was scheduled for July 10 at the
4H Youth Building in Owego, New York. Mike loaded the 6 HP Olin
engine into his pick-up and took it to the reunion where Don was
able to demonstrate it, running for several hours on a half tank,
10 pounds, of LP gas. Several photos were taken to add into the
Olin reunion photo records. Don plans to have this engine mounted
onto a flatbed trailer with a belted hook-up to a pre-1900 White
Planer.

Don is proud to have been able to preserve a part of the Olin
family history for future generations. I am proud to have been in a
position to research the history of the inventor, Fred C. Olin, and
some of his other accomplishments. Our local Olin reunion is only
one of seven held annually across the United States and Canada.

Author's note: My thanks go to all those mentioned in
this story for their input. Special thanks to Lee Russ of Chemung
County, New York. If readers feel that they may have some
information or photographs relating to Olin engines or other of
Olin's inventions, please write or call Warren G. Olin, 5855
Lisle Rd., Owego, NY 13827 or phone (607) 687-3077.

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